Open AccessPolyadenylation of Maternal RNA of Sea Urchin Eggs After Fertilization
Author(s) -
Fred H. Wilt
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.70.8.2345
Subject(s) - polyadenylation , sea urchin , biology , rna , polysome , cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor , microbiology and biotechnology , human fertilization , parthenogenesis , messenger rna , ribosome , cytoplasm , biochemistry , genetics , embryo , gene
Between fertilization, or parthenogenetic activation, and the two-cell stage, the content of polyadenylic acid in sea urchin eggs doubles, and the increase occurs primarily in the ribosome-polyribosome fraction. The increase is due to polyadenylation of preexisting RNA molecules synthesized during oogenesis. The polyadenylation occurs in activated, enucleated merogons. It is argued that cytoplasmic polyadenylation may play a role in mobilization of maternal messenger RNA for translation and the polyadenylic acid does not subserve an exclusively nuclear function.